Kinds of Renewable Energy

Solar Energy

For billions of years, the sun has poured out huge amounts of energy in several forms, including light, heat, radio waves and even x-rays. The Earth, in orbit around the Sun, intercepts a very small part of the Sun’s immense output. On Earth, the direct sunlight is available from sunrise until sunset, except during solar eclipses. Solar collectors and modules are designed to capture some of the Sun’s energy and change it from radiation into more usable forms such as heat or electricity. In fact, sunlight is an excellent source of heat and electricity, the two most important forms of energy we consume. Solar energy is becoming increasingly popular for remote power needs such as telecommunication towers, agricultural applications (irrigation & pasture management), in tropical countries that are not connected to an electrical grid, for heating swimming pools and many other applications around the world.

Wind Energy

Wind energy is really just another form of solar energy. Sunlight falling on oceans and continents causes air to warm and rise, which in turns generates surface winds. The wind has been used by humans for thousands of years, first to carry ships across oceans and later to pump water and grind grain. More recently, wind has been harnessed as a clean, safe source of electricity.

Biomass Energy

The term “Biomass” refers to any form of plant or animal tissue. In the energy industry, biomass refers to wood, straw, biological waste products such as manure and other natural materials that contain stored energy. The energy stored in biomass can be released by burning the materials directly or by feeding it to micro-organisms that use it to make biogas, a form of natural gas. Energy from biomass is still used around the world, for everything from cooking and heating to generating electricity.

Moving Water

Humans have used water power to supply energy for almost as long as we’ve used wind. Archaeologists have discovered descriptions of water wheels used for grinding grain that date back to more than 3,000 years ago. Today, the energy of falling water is used mainly to drive electrical generators at hydroelectric dams. As long as snow and rainfall can fill the streams and rivers, moving water can be a renewable source of energy.